Profile Text
Birth Name: Selar Sabu
Date of Birth: 27 January, 1924
Place of Birth: Karapur, Mysore, Kingdom of Mysore, British India (now India)
Date of Death: December 2, 1963
Place of Death: Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Ethnicity: Indian [Deccani, Assamese]
Sabu Dastagir, usually credited as Sabu, was an Indian-American actor. He was known for his career as a star of British and American films beginning in the 1930s, having featured in Elephant Boy , The Drum (1938), The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book , Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage , Cobra Woman , Tangier (1946), Black Narcissus (1947), The End of the River , Man-Eater of Kumaon , Song of India , Savage Drums , Hello Elephant , The Treasure of Bengal , Jungle Hell , Jaguar (1956), Sabu and the Magic Ring , Mistress of the World , Rampage (1963), and A Tiger Walks .
He was born in Karapur, Mysore. His father, Sheikh Ibrahim, was an Indian mahout/elephant rider and trainer, who likely was of Deccani descent. His mother was from an Assamese family in the northeast of India. He was discovered at thirteen by documentary filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty. Sabu became a U.S. citizen in 1944, fighting in WWII, in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a tail gunner and ball turret gunner on B-24 Liberators.
Sabu was married to American actress Marilyn Cooper, until his death, with whom he had two children, including singer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist Paul Sabu.
Source: http://www.powell-pressburger.org